I love the saying, “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful”. I couldn’t agree with this more! Outsiders looking in may think we are a strange little family. I understand. Our daily MO is far from being perfect or normal but our home runs like a well-oiled bike. We trek down the path of life just fine, bumps and all, we get from point A to point B every single day. It’s Christmas time and our sweet Elizabeth has learned to turn on the Christmas tree and an old fiber optic snowman all on her own. It’s become her holiday contribution to our family and she’s quite proud of the skill she’s acquired. My Husband and I call her The Light Monitor. The Christmas tree gets turned on first thing in the morning and at times she will randomly get up to turn it off. We don’t understand the logic behind this but we let her be. For her, this has been a pretty ‘perfect’ Christmas so far.

Let me tell you about the worst and best Christmas we’ve ever had. It was December of 2009. Not a creature was stirring… Just kidding! We were in the ICU with a very sick little baby. She had just gotten her trach and g-tube. The pain from the fresh wounds meant she had to be heavily medicated so she could sleep and not feel the pain from the surgical holes in her neck and stomach. The trach and g-tube were vital to her survival and growth but knowing this didn’t ease the hurt we felt watching Elizabeth go thru excruciating pain. It still hurts to remember her grimaced face. She could no longer cry because the trach was in place and that left her without a way to tell us she was in pain. Day after day, we spent every possible moment in the hospital. Every night we slept on the cold hard floor of the ICU room, only to wake up early, shower at the Ronald McDonald House and head to work during the day. George would stay with Elizabeth during the day and go to work in the evenings until his last day, because he was fired. Often times he had to call in “sick” or show up late for any number of reasons. His work wasn’t as forgiving as mine was. Losing a job complicated things more.  We still had to pay rent on an apartment we didn’t live in, utilities, car payments, insurance, etc. All this on just one income.  God quickly intervened! It wasn’t too long before he found a new and better job. Christmas day we were showered by strangers with money, gifts and encouraging visits. One evening we decided to take a little break and rest a bit at the Ronald McDonald House. As we opened the door to our room we saw a pile of Christmas presents! To this day, we don’t know who these were from. They were anonymous donations made to RMH families. I’m brought to tears remembering the generosity of strangers during this trying time.

Then, on Christmas morning a roar of motorcycles was heard from every floor of the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.  A group of Harley riders came to visit the children at the hospital, bringing even more gifts. Overwhelming gratitude is what we felt during Christmas of ’09.

As you can see, this Christmas wasn’t perfect but it was beautiful! People’s generosity impacted our lives greatly and have inspired us to pay it forward. If you’re experiencing a rough Christmas season, please remember that things do get better. There is beauty in difficulty. You will look back one day only to remember Gods goodness in your life and how much He’s helped you grow.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Love, The Fernandez Trio